The internet giant, Google, has just announced the launch of their voice-activated search for laptops and PC’s. The Google Chrome extension was launched in the U.S. in an English only version. The browser extension will become available in other countries and languages, following the beta version that was launched in the U.S. today. A microphone will be required to be present on the device, or users can connect and install their own 3rd party microphones.

Residents in the U.S. can now install the free browser extension in their Chrome browser by visiting the Chrome Web Store. After installation, a user will need to allow the extension to access the computer’s microphone. A prompt, “Say: OK Google,” will then appear in the browser’s search bar. The extension can then be activated by users by speaking the voice command, “OK Google.” Once the extension hears a voice command, the browser will display a red microphone graphic and type the spoken voice command automatically, before revealing the answer to the spoken query.

Google has finally extended handsfree search to Chrome through the Google Voice Search Hotword extension (in Beta) which is available for download through the Chrome Web Store.

It's worth pointing out that the feature is available in English only in the US. After downloading and installing the extension, users need to visit Google.com and say "Ok Google" followed by their conversational search query or command. Since the search experience is totally handsfree, one just needs to repeat the command again to switch to another search as the extension makes the browser sensitive to the "Ok Google" keyword. You can even set a reminder and make it show on Google Now through the tool, provided you're signed-in with the same Google account.

Google had first showcased conversational search at the Google I/O event in May. It had rolled out the feature on Chrome browser for Mac, Windows and Linux with the updated version (version 27) of the browser, later that month.

K. Satchidanandan is perhaps the most translated of contemporary Indian poets, having 23 collections of translation in 19 languages. He writes poetry in Malayalam and prose in Malayalam and English. His book While I Write: New and Selected Poems (Harper Collins) came out in 2011. He has lectured and read his poetry across the world. He was a professor of English, and later the chief executive of the Indian National Academy of Literature (Sahitya Akademi) and the Director of the School of Translation Studies, IGNOU, Delhi. He has won 27 literary awards including the Sahitya Akademi, Kerala Sahitya Akademi award (five times), Kusumagraj National Award, NTR National award, Bharateey Bhasha Parishad Award, Knighthood of the Order of Merit from the Government of Italy and India-Poland Friendship Medal from the Government of Poland.

Arundhathi Subramaniam is a poet and writer who has worked as curator, critic and poetry editor. As poet, she is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Where I Live: New and Selected Poems. As editor, her books include Another Country: An Anthology of Post-Independence Indian Poetry in English; an anthology on sacred journeys, Pilgrim's India; and a co-edited anthology on contemporary love poems, Confronting Love. As prose writer, her books include the bestselling biography of a contemporary mystic, Sadhguru: More Than A Life and The Book of Buddha.

She is the recipient of the Raza Award for Poetry, the Homi Bhabha fellowship, the Charles Wallace Fellowship and the Visiting Arts Fellowship. She has been Editor of the India domain of the Poetry international Web for several years, as well as Head of Chauraha (an interactive arts forum) and Indian Dance at the NCPA, Bombay.

Timeri N. Murari was for many years a journalist writing for The Guardian, The Sunday Times and Observer in London before he moved to New York, where he made documentary films for British television. He has written 18 books of fiction and non-fiction. His bestselling Taj: A Story of Mughal India has been translated into 25 languages. He is also the writer and producer of The Square Circleone of Time’s "ten best films of the year" in 1997. He adapted it for the stage and directed it as the Leicester Haymarket theatre with Parminder Nagra in the lead role. In 2002, he was presented with the R.K.Narayanan Award for his his contributions to writing, cinema and theatre. Aleph will publish his new novel, Chanakya Returns, later this year.

Kavery Nambisan is a surgeon and novelist. She has spent most of her professional life in rural areas and her fiction is strongly coloured by this experience. Currently, she runs a rural hospital in Kodagu district in Karnataka. She has written six novels, all of which are published by Penguin India. Her last novel, The Story That Must Not Be Told, was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize and the DSC South Asian Literary Prize. Her next novel, A Town Like Ours, will be published in April 2014 by Aleph Publications.

Geeta Doctor is a journalist and writer. She is also a noted reviewer of literature. She has written extensively on art and architecture; on food and travel; as well as children’s stories. She describes herself as a journalist whose commentaries on life, literature and society have always sought to be incisive and insightful. She received the Angarag lifetime achievement award 2008 for her contribution to journalism. She published a volume of poems in 2013 entitled What We Leave Behind. Geeta lives in Chennai.

While speaking at a conference on ‘Developing English Language Skills to Enhance Graduate Employability’ on Wednesday, he said: “We have observed that there is a significant focus on technical skills, but there is probably inadequate focus on communication and soft skills.”

Though several Indian companies are recruiting more people, off late, there has been a tendency to employ those who are not skilled at communication. Making the observation that technical skills were important, Mr. Milanovic said that if communication skills were not satisfactory however, it may not be easy to get a job.

The role of English is clear and it has been seen as a necessary tool for success in the last few years; but getting teachers who actually operate with good standards of English has been a challenging factor, he said.

While speaking at a conference on ‘Developing English Language Skills to Enhance Graduate Employability’ on Wednesday, he said: “We have observed that there is a significant focus on technical skills, but there is probably inadequate focus on communication and soft skills.”

Though several Indian companies are recruiting more people, off late, there has been a tendency to employ those who are not skilled at communication. Making the observation that technical skills were important, Mr. Milanovic said that if communication skills were not satisfactory however, it may not be easy to get a job.

The role of English is clear and it has been seen as a necessary tool for success in the last few years; but getting teachers who actually operate with good standards of English has been a challenging factor, he said.

After a lull, films from other languages are getting dubbed into Telugu and are making good business

After a brief lull dubbing films are back in Tollywood. A notable change, however, is the dubbing of Hindi movies in considerable numbers. Earlier, Tamil, English, Kannada, and Malayalam movies were only dubbed and released in Tollywood but now even popular Hindi movies are being dubbed to cash in on the craze for such movies.

The Telugu version of Hrithik Roshan starrerKrrish 3 was released in about 150 theatres across the State including 25 in the capital.

Industry experts inform that the movie would do a business of about Rs. 4 crore in the region and much more across the State.

Passion for Bollywood

Driven by the craze for popular Bollywood stars even in Hyderabad and other parts of the State, Yashraj Films’ popular movie Dhoom – 3 starring Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and others is slated for release on December 20 along with its Hindi and Tamil versions. Earlier this year, Prabhu Deva starrer ABCD and Ram Gopal Varma’s The Attacks of 26 /11 were dubbed and released in Telugu and both the films did good business.

Corporate entry

Though dubbed versions of popular Hindi movies getting released is nothing new industry experts inform that their numbers are slowly increasing over the years due to the entry of corporate companies like Reliance Entertainments, Balaji Movies (Telugu version of Dirty Picture) are eyeing this market, explains M. Vijayender Reddy, president of Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce. Dubbed movies, especially Tamil and English always had market in Tollywood.

Google has released an extension for its Chrome browser called “Google Voice Search Hotword” that will let you search the Internet via speech from Google's site. By saying “OK Google,” and then your search term or phrase, the site will do a search for you. If you ask a specific question, such as converting measurements, Google’s voice assistant will respond.

The demo video shows a series of searches based on cooking: “OK Google, compare olive oil and butter,” “OK Google, what is 5 tablespoons in ounces,” and “OK Google, remind me to buy olive oil on Sunday afternoon.” That last command creates a reminder in Google Now, the company’s virtual assistant program for Android and iOS devices.

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